Architecture Of International Law With Respect To 21st Century Warfare: Normatively Ambitious But Operationally Deficient
- IJLLR Journal
- Sep 3
- 1 min read
Vedika Awasthi & Rohan Jain
ABSTRACT
The contemporary edifice of international law, though normatively robust in its commitment to humanitarianism, and state accountability, remains structurally and functionally inadequate in addressing the amorphous, digitized, and decentralized nature of 21st century warfare. This paper undertakes a critical interrogation of this disjuncture between international law’s aspirational ideals and its operational deficiencies in the face of modern conflict.
The paper, first deals with the normative vacuum surrounding non-state actors and unconventional warfare, where traditional legal instruments designed for inter-state armed conflict; prove increasingly obsolete. Secondly, it explores the legal conundrums posed by cyber espionage and digital warfare, particularly the enduring challenges of attribution, state responsibility and ambiguity of borders in digital space. Third, the research evaluates the jurisdictional lacunae and enforcement paralysis that undermine key institutions such as the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice, exacerbated by the realities of state sovereignty, political discretion, and Security Council veto power. Lastly, the paper interrogates the reliance on customary international law in the absence of a codified structure of regulations, laws and rules in high velocity conflict scenarios. Through analysis with contemporary case studies, this research contends that unless the international legal system recalibrates its architecture to address multidimensional fault lines, it risks descending into normative irrelevance amidst an era defined by asymmetry, anonymity and algorithm warfare.
The paper advocates for codification of clear and binding legal structures which behave as adaptive instruments that reflect the realities of modern conflict through treaty reform, technological regulation and institutional recalibration.
